Credit Self Defense


"Tracking threats to your finances, credit reports, and reputation from predatory lenders, fraudulent bill collectors and other pests."

Author: Ed Hutchison is a licensed private investigator in Indianapolis.

Blawg Related Categories: Consumer Law

Recent Posts from Credit Self Defense


  • Bear Stearns to Pay $28 Million To Settle Unlawful Debt Collection Practices

    Bear Stearns Companies, LLC and its subsidiary, EMC Mortgage Corporation, have agreed to pay $28 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they engaged in unlawful practices in servicing consumers' home mortgage loans. The…

  • Doctors Sending Patients To Collection Agencies For Bills They Don't Owe

    As health-care costs continue to soar, millions of confused consumers are paying medical bills they don't actually owe. Typically this occurs when an insurance plan covers less than what a doctor, hospital, or lab service…

  • CashCall.com Moves Cash From You To Them

    Have you seen those commercials for Cash Call �?? you know, the ones with Gary Coleman hawking cash loans (�??What�??chu talkin�?? about, Cash Call!�??) under the guise that you can get an immediate infusion of…

  • Portfolio Recovery Associates Profiting From Poverty

    Carrie Blanton parks her two-year-old sedan with its nose against a scraggly backyard tree and waits while her first-floor neighbor pulls her rusty Chevy behind it. Carrie is desperate. She needs the car to get…

  • Heartland Health Sickens Patients With Collections Harassment

    When lack of insurance or low income prevents payment of medical bills, patients can find themselves tied up in a lawsuit. In Missouri, those on the receiving end of that litigation complain of the treatment…

  • Merchants' Credit Guide Busted In New Mexico

    The New Mexico attorney general's office has reached a settlement with an Illinois debt collection company. The state sued Merchants' Credit Guide Company in August 2007, alleging the company tried to collect debts that were…

  • Citibank to Pay $18 Million Over Theft From Customers

    Citibank Inc. will pay refunds and damages totaling $18 million to settle charges that the financial services company emptied the dormant accounts of credit card customers, California's attorney general announced Tuesday. A three-year investigation concluded…

  • Renegade Collection Agencies Rounded Up By West Virginia's AG

    West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's scrutiny of the sometimes unscrupulous debt collection industry demonstrates that the complaints of a few abused persons may lead to consumer justice for the many. For example: The complaint…

  • Arizona Secretary of State Sued Over 400 Percent Interest Rate Scheme

    An Arizona committee working to stop out-of-state payday lenders from tricking voters into permanently legalizing 400 percent interest rates filed a lawsuit this morning naming Secretary of State Janice Brewer in Superior Court. Voters may…

  • Jim Cramer Says SEC Not Protecting Small Investors

    As investors dumped shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the third straight day, CNBC's Jim Cramer urged that trading in both stocks be stopped altogether because they were being manipulated by people with…